Casino owners are always interested in enhancing the profitability of their casino games. More particularly, new and improved casino games allowing for faster-paced games, an increase in the betting amount per game, and a raise in the player's interest in the game, present a real appeal to casino house managers.
In recent years, additional betting opportunities, other than the standard bet or wager, have been introduced in casino games. Typically, such additional betting options give players further opportunities to win prizes, tend to enhance the assiduity of players to an underlying game, and enlarge the total amount wagered on a play of the underlying game. Consequently, the casino game profitability could be enhanced.
More specifically, some card games now offer players the possibility of betting on the occurrence that they will receive a predetermined hand during a play of the underlying game. These types of games require that the player who wants to wager, participate in a play of an underlying game or at least receive one gaming symbol during a play of the underlying game.
In other card games, the bet made by the player is a bet on a predetermined card hand received not by the player who made the bet but by the dealer, during the play of the underlying game. Consequently, for such games, a player who wants to wager on the occurrence of a combination of gaming symbols within a specified hand associated with the dealer, may make a wager without participating in a play of an underlying game.
Allowing these types of bets on gaming symbols received by the dealer during a play of an underlying game, without requiring a receipt of gaming symbols by the player during the play of the underlying game, is particularly advantageous for players who feel unlucky or inexperienced at the underlying game.
Finally, other card games offer players the option of placing a bet on the occurrence of a predetermined hand associated with either the player making the bet or the dealer, during the play of the underlying game.
Despite the fact that the above mentioned types of games present a real appeal to the player and contribute to an increase in casino game profitability, such methods, enabling a player to bet on a combination of game symbol eventually received by a dealer present some disadvantages as well.
Offering the possibility of placing a side bet on the occurrence of a combination of gaming symbols within a specific hand associated with the dealer, increases the complexity of the dealer task, enhances the probability of mistakes and slows down the pace of the game. In fact, in addition to playing, determining winners and calculating payout for the underlying game, the dealer has to determine who has made such a side bet and resolve wins and losses. Typically, a plurality of side bet options are offered, in which case, the task of de dealer is more complex, longer and more prone to mistakes or cheating. Consequently, the pace of both the underlying game and the side bet game is decreased.
Furthermore, in general, when a side bet option is offered, at least one additional side bet region on the playing surface is provided at each player position. Typically, a plurality of side bet betting options on a plurality of possible dealer events are offered. Then a plurality of side betting areas is provided at each player station. Consequently, some tokens can be moved—inadvertently or intentionally—during a play of an underlying game. This high density of betting chips and of adjacent betting areas can bring confusion and dispute among players and dealer. These facts favor mistakes, disputes and cheating and contribute to slow the pace of plays of the underlying game, and may be more annoying than entertaining for players including the dealer.